I was listening to "The Watch" podcast with Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald and they were revisiting Radiohead's OK Computer album 20 years after its release. They mentioned that the song "No Surprises" is arranged with electric guitar inspired by "Wouldn't It Be Nice".

I had never heard that before and when relistening to OK Computer this morning didn't really catch the "No Surprises" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" connection. Has this been discussed here? Nothing came up when I searched. What am I missing???

Perhaps this has been answered, but I can't find it anywhere. Van Dyke Parks claims that he left before Brian recorded "Fire." Various bystanders claim that for "Fire" Brian had the musicians involved wear plastic firefighter helmets to "get them in the mood." Ok but...

...why does there exist a photo of what appears to be Van Dyke wearing a firefighter helmet? Did he remember wrongly and was in fact at that session? Or were the firefighter hats used for an entirely different session beforehand? Is this a fake picture? What is the truth?

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I tricked a club promoter into playing "The Elements" at a show and it was *fire*.

If it's literally a case of only strapping one on as opposed to actually playing it, while he's probably done it even more recently for some TV appearance or another, there's this infamous 1998 Al-less Super Bowl gig:

I think this question came up a long time ago, and I think the early-mid 80s was the last time Bruce was regularly actually playing the bass at all during shows, and even then it was usually only for a few numbers like "Barbara Ann."

If it's literally a case of only strapping one on as opposed to actually playing it, while he's probably done it even more recently for some TV appearance or another, there's this infamous 1998 Al-less Super Bowl gig:

I think this question came up a long time ago, and I think the early-mid 80s was the last time Bruce was regularly actually playing the bass at all during shows, and even then it was usually only for a few numbers like "Barbara Ann."

What caught my eye in that photo, is Bruce is playing a 'Squire' knockoff of a 'Fender' bass. They are a cheap instrument, not to say that they are all bad, butit just feels like they found a bass hanging around and said 'throw this on'.

What caught my eye in that photo, is Bruce is playing a 'Squire' knockoff of a 'Fender' bass. They are a cheap instrument, not to say that they are all bad, butit just feels like they found a bass hanging around and said 'throw this on'.

That's probably what happened, since they were just miming for that show.

While the "Al didn't know this show was happening until he saw it on TV" story may have been overblown over the years, I will probably never be able to shake the possible image of Al sitting down in the front of the TV with some chips and dip and buffalo wings for his annual Jardine Family Super Bowl Party only to do a spit take seeing this on TV.

The more likely scenario is he just heard about it later; and I'm pretty sure by early 1998, even before Carl's death, Al sensed his days were numbered playing with Mike.

Either way, if I were Al I wouldn't be bummed about missing that cheesy Super Bowl gig. Worse than the "Dick Clark 35th Anniversary" mimed gig from '81, and that was the one where Brian was zonked and Dennis looked to be nearly passed out.

I think if I could go back to any BB's era it would be this one, the band seems so much more comfortable playing the music, Mike doesn't seem like he has gone full bore into the nostalgia scene yet and could be convinced to take a puff or two...

I would like to ask about the main broken chord guitar part on Sloop John B.

It is quite easy to figure out how this part goes over the main root chord (usually Ab) and also the Eb chord.However I have found it difficult to figure out what is played over what I think would be the Db and Bbm chords I.e the two bars before the "(well I) feel so broke up..." bit.

I think I have described that right.

What do people play for that part?It's hard for me to figure out from the instrumental mix though the other bars are quite clear to make out.

Ta

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"..be cautious, don't get your hopes up, look over your shoulder because heartbreak and darkness are always ready to pounce"

like it sounds like a rundown progression? does it sound like a vocal or bass rundown?not sure but here's a idea.play the Db chord and move the bass note of the chord down to a C before the Bbm. So the run would be Db - Db/C(bass) - Bbm

Sam, this is what I hear (as a non-guitarist). Upper case (a capital letter) indicates a drop down to the next note and lower case a rise. Both chords (D♭ and B♭m) have this same eight-note pattern. Just the bass note changes.